London Food And Drink News: 29 January 2015

Hot stuff: Grillstock is coming to London
Welcome to our weekly round-up of all that’s happening in London’s food and drink scene.

Inside this week: beer, buns, Broadgate and BBQ

Beer and buns

We’re very much liking the sound of long-term pop-up Beer & Buns, which launches above K-10 sushi bar near Liverpool Street early next month. The concept is a simple but ingenious one — serving steamed hirata buns alongside the UK’s biggest selection of Japanese craft beers. These will include Asahi ‘Super Cold’ on tap, which is served with a frozen head. The space is being described as a Japanese dive bar, and will have graffiti-sprayed walls as well as retro pinball machines and fussball to keep diners and drinkers entertained.

Bow wow bar

Mayfair’s North Audley Canteen will relaunch its basement space as a bar themed around one of the owner’s dogs. Named Chez Chow, it will feature dog-themed art alongside other canine-inspired design touches. Teddy the Chow Chow — the dog it’s named for — is set to make regular appearances too. While he’ll stick to bowls of water, humans can enjoy cocktails and snacks including Asian pork belly sliders, bass tartare and boards of cheese and charcuterie. It remains to be seen whether it will be a pedigree affair, or just a load of doggy doo doo.

Boosting Broadgate

Spanish chef José Pizarro is the latest to announce plans to open in the City as part of the Broadgate Circle development near Liverpool Street station. He will follow up his Bermondsey Street tapas bar José and restaurant Pizarro with a combined bar and restaurant called José Pizarro — original naming there. When it opens in April, Broadgate Circle will be a brand new foodie hub featuring branches of Aubaine, The Botanist, Comptoir Libanais, Franco Manca, Shoryu Ramen and Yauatcha, as well as a new surf and turf restaurant called Crab Tavern.

Capital grilling

It’s a bit of a way off, but there was good news for London’s BBQ fans this week, with the news that Grillstock is coming to the capital in the autumn. The annual celebration of meat, fire and all things grilled has been a big deal in Bristol for years, and more recently in Manchester, but this will be the first time it’s reached the capital. It will be held in Walthamstow from 4-6 September.

Arch eating

A brasserie is set to open under the arches by Vauxhall station next month. Counter will have French and American influences, with its all-day menu set to feature pork rillette with pickles, braised beef short rib with dauphinoise potatoes, buttermilk fried chicken and cassoulet. Its wine list will be entirely French and American, while craft beers and cocktails are also promised.

Coffee club

London's love affair with caffeine shows no signs of abating. London Grind — from the team behind Shoreditch Grind and Soho Grind — will open just south of London Bridge in February, while Fitzrovia’s Kaffeine opens a second branch on nearby Eastcastle Street in March. Both outlets will serve food as well as coffee, with a stronger focus on eating than at their other branches.

Coming soon

Next week sees the launch of all-day brasserie Blixen in Spitalfields. It comes from Clive Watson, who was part of the team behind Fitzrovia’s Riding House Café and both Village East and The Garrison on Bermondsey Street; it will be on soft-launch from 3-8 February. Blacklock will open in a former brothel on Soho’s Great Windmill Street, specialising in beef, pork, lamb and veal chops. There will be wine on tap and cocktails from a fiver. And West Thirty Six — a sister to the Beach Blanket Babylon restaurants in Notting Hill and Shoreditch — will open on Golborne Road.

Talk to us

We still want your help to keep these weekly food & drink news round-ups as relevant, up-to-date, and interesting as possible. Got any top tips, local gems or foodie news? Tried one of the new restaurants we mentioned? Leave a comment below or hit us up at hello@londonist.com. ‘Til next week…